AFTER BREXIT

bb1 wrote:Thanks, LL, I freely admit that so much is happening, I am losing track of it!

It would be good if Slovakia could begin reforms, but I personally feel too many troughers are profiting from the present centralist set-up for anything to change.

I will be happy to be wrong.

bb1 wrote:Hmm. If I was a cynical UK politician, LL, I'd be trying to delay actually doing anything for as long as possible, as the EU is falling apart without any outside help. I seem to recall there are a few big European elections coming up over the next year, too?

bb1 wrote:What happens there could make a huge difference, I suspect?

Inheritance tax

Following her appointment, it was discovered that she had placed her shares in a buy-to-let property company, which she had started with her husband in 2003, into trusts for the benefit of her children. This is a move that is commonly used to avoid inheritance tax. She also took advantage of offshore banking arrangements for the property company in an apparent contradiction to George Osborne’s attempts to crack down on tax avoidance. A spokesperson for Leadsom said: “This is a normal corporate situation and all tax that is due is being paid. None of the loans for the properties are based offshore”.

Donations from family firm

There was further criticism when it was revealed that she had received a series of donations totalling £70,000 from a firm based in London but owned by her Guernsey-based brother-in-law, Peter de Putron, via a holding company in the British Virgin Islands tax haven. Leadsom’s husband Ben is a director of the firm which made the donations, which were used to pay the salaries of staff in Leadsom’s Westminster office after her election as MP; the firm has also made donations of £816,000 to the Conservative party. Because the firm making the donations, Gloucester Research (later becoming GR Software and Research) was based in London the donations conformed to the rule banning political donations from abroad. The Labour MP Tom Watson said: “These very large donations might be within the rules, but it certainly isn’t right that a Treasury minister has been taking money in this way. Most reasonable people will see this as completely unreasonable”.

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Brexit: Will Tony Blair lead the negotiations?

Appointing a Eurosceptic minister to lead talks about Britain's withdrawal from the European Union would be a mistake, Tony Blair has warned.

Tory leadership favourite and former Remain campaigner Theresa May has suggested a pro-Leave "Brexit minister" should take charge of negotiations once the next prime minister triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

However, writing in the Daily Telegraph, Blair says. "I understand the Tory politics of that; but is it really sensible for the country?"

Instead, the former prime minister sets out his own vision of how Britain could most successfully negotiate the terms of its future relationship with Europe.

"We need to get a high-level sense of where the boundaries are going to be, the things that might be compromised, the things that are red lines," he writes, calling on the Leave camp to outline their plans for a "new British economy".

Given the "extraordinary complexity" of the task, whoever represents the UK will require "maturity", "serious statesmanship" and an understanding of the "psychology" of the 27 EU member states, he adds.

However, some observers believe Blair was suggesting himself as the answer to the article's headline: "Who will provide the statesmanship we need?"

His comments will "inevitably be seen as an offer by Mr Blair to play a part in the negotiations", says Robert Mendick in the Daily Telegraph.

The Daily Express goes even further, describing the article as a "thinly-veiled plea" for involvement, noting that the well-known Europhile "tried and failed to run for EU president in 2009".

With the long-awaited Chilcot Report into the Iraq War finally due to be released on Wednesday, it remains to be seen whether Blair's overtures to supervise Brexit will be warmly received.